Joy Is Serious Business

Introduction & Review

Stories of JOY

How would you answer if I asked you to tell me something that brought you great joy? Would you have trouble answering the question?

Everyone’s personality is different - some of us are naturally happier or more melancholy than others, but I bet that if you sat down and wrote out things that gave you joy, you might come up with a list like this:

Seeing a baby smile // hearing the “clack clack clack” of your dog running across the kitchen floor when she’s glad you’re home // seeing the look on a loved one’s face when you surprise them with a visit, or a gift // high school football // a perfectly prepared latte // the first snow

Students, maybe it’s seeing your name on the honor roll or that you made the team or you’re in the play

When I ask you what gives you joy, you instinctively have an idea, but if I asked you what joy is, you might not have a definition. It’s like happiness, but deeper. It’s more than just a feeling.

Deep down, we know that joy is serious business.

It’s serious business to God, too.

In Nehemiah 6, we read that the wall around Jerusalem was completed in 52 days. This is the turning point for the book. The first part of the mission that God put into Nehemiah’s heart is completed. Now that the wall is rebuilt, God puts it in Nehemiah’s heart to revive the people.

The genealogy and lists in chapter 7 are Nehemiah’s starting point for his revival project, and chapter 8 opens with something remarkable: all the people are in the Jerusalem town square.

This is just one week after the wall is completed. Nehemiah is wasting no time starting part two of his mission.

What we find is that the revival starts with God’s Word and leads to joy. Every true revival, every true reformation, starts with God's Word, and this is no different.

So look with me at Nehemiah 8, as we explore the question: How and when should we rejoice in the LORD?

5 points focusing on verses 9-12

I. Rejoice in the LORD when you recognize His holiness

And before we dive into verses 9-12, a quick summary of verses 1-8

ALL the ppl gathered in Jerusalem to do what the Law had commanded -

Deuteronomy 31:9–13 ESV

9 Then Moses wrote this law and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to all the elders of Israel. 10 And Moses commanded them, “At the end of every seven years, at the set time in the year of release, at the Feast of Booths, 11 when all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God at the place that he will choose, you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing. 12 Assemble the people, men, women, and little ones, and the sojourner within your towns, that they may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God, and be careful to do all the words of this law, 13 and that their children, who have not known it, may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God, as long as you live in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess.”

They build a platform for the occasion, and they grab Ezra - he came to Jerusalem 13 years earlier than Nehemiah. Nehemiah was the political leader, Ezra was the priest and scribe - the religious authority.

They do what Deut 31 says - men, women, little ones - everyone old enough to understand.

God’s Word @ the center - the people respond by worshiping the LORD

13 men stand on the platform, and 13 other men - Levites - are among the people, making sure the people understand. (vv7-8) - “helped understand,” “read clearly & gave the sense”

God’s Word is to be reverenced (they stood)

God’s Word is to be studied and explained (Acts 8:30-31,

God’s Word can be understood (2 Tim 3:15-17)

God’s Word is for all who can understand (i.e., children, vv2, 3, etc; see Deut 6:7, 20-25)

God’s Word is to be believed and obeyed (“Amen, amen”)

But now we get to verses 9-12, and notice what happens. ALL THE PEOPLE, v9 says, had started weeping as they heard the words of God’s Law.

Nehemiah and Ezra and the Levites stop and say, “This day is holy to the LORD your God; do not mourn or weep.”

Then Nehemiah takes charge and dismisses the crowd with a call to turn their mourning into rejoicing.

We find out in chapter 9-10 why they’re weeping - the Law reveals God’s holiness and their sin.

They look at God’s perfect Law and realize that they haven’t kept a bit of it.

Holiness - God’s absolute uniqueness and perfection. He is not a being like us, created and finite; He alone is the Creator, the King over everything. Uncreated and infinite; He alone is good in Himself. As the seraphim call out to one another in Isaiah 6: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.”

Reading Scripture introduces you to the holiness of God; it also brings us face-to-face with the fact that we are all petty in our selfishness, tyrannical in our rebellions, unholy, sinful.

Here’s what they had missed, though:

God’s Law also told them that their ancestors weren’t redeemed from Egypt because they were better than the Egyptians; they were just as idolatrous, just as sinful as the Egyptians!

Nothing illustrated this truth better than the Passover - when the LORD delivered Israel from slavery, and the firstborn sons of Egypt died in judgment, the firstborn sons of Israel were spared not because they were sinless, but because the blood of the passover lamb had covered them.

God’s Law demonstrated that they were sinners. But it also demonstrated that God saves sinners.

When you recognize that God is holy, and you are not, that’s a gift from God to you.

Romans 2:4 ESV

4 Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?

Confronted w/ Christ’s holiness, Peter: Luke 5:1-11

crowds pressing in to hear the word of God, 2 boats by the lake, fishermen washing nets // Jesus gets into Simon Peter’s boat, v4: “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” Simon - all night we caught nothing, but since you say so… // such a large catch, nets breaking, filled both boats. // v8: “But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees saying, ‘Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.’ // v10: And Jesus said to him, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” Left everything & followed Him.

APPLY:

His holiness means that

He can be trusted to keep His promises

He is able to save sinners

He will not change His mind about you

Your sin cannot threaten Him or corrupt Him

2 Corinthians 7:10 ESV

10 For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.

On the other hand, this should be clear: The people were right to look at the Law and conclude that God is holy and they are sinful. If you have any idea in your head that you are somehow deserving of God’s love, or that you have earned or even partially earned His salvation by your own works, you are lost and condemned. We must first recognize that we are poor in spirit before we can know the blessing of His forgiveness. But He does not call us to wallow in the muck, but to revel in his mercy.

II. Rejoice in the LORD when your sin is forgiven

EXPLAIN: The people were mourning when they should have been rejoicing - they were in Jerusalem with a completed wall because God had delivered them out of exile. Their return was His demonstration that their sin was forgiven (Isa 40, Jer 25:11-12, Deut 30:1-5)

Deuteronomy 30:1–5 ESV

1 “And when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the Lord your God has driven you, 2 and return to the Lord your God, you and your children, and obey his voice in all that I command you today, with all your heart and with all your soul, 3 then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes and have mercy on you, and he will gather you again from all the peoples where the Lord your God has scattered you. 4 If your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there he will take you. 5 And the Lord your God will bring you into the land that your fathers possessed, that you may possess it. And he will make you more prosperous and numerous than your fathers.

The fact that they were in Jerusalem proved that God was restoring them!

APPLY:

From time-to-time, I run across Christians who can’t seem to get past the depth of their own sin to see the depth of God’s love for them. They think that if they stop being miserable that God will be angry with them for not taking their sin seriously enough. But that is not the truth.

God so loved you - you - sinner though you are - God so loved you that He gave His only Son so that whoever believes in Him would not perish, but have eternal life.

When Jesus entered the synagogue at Capernaum and proclaimed His mission to the world, He read these words from Isaiah 61:

Isaiah 61:1–3 ESV

1 The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; 2 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; 3 to grant to those who mourn in Zion— to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.

He did not come to make you wallow. He came so that we would REJOICE in His forgiveness.

As Jesus says in

III. Rejoice in the LORD through worship

Look at verse 10 with me <<READ 10>>

Nehemiah just ends the worship service and sends the people out. But notice what he sends them out to do -

This is worship through feasting and fellowship.

Nehemiah sends them out to feast together without grieving because the joy of the LORD is your strength.

v12 - and look how they respond <<READ v12>> they get it. Do you?

REJOICING implies singing, loud shouts. This is no Frozen Chosen moment.

APPLY:

WORSHIP is just a fancy word for dedicating yourself to God - giving honor and glory to Him. In verse 6, it said they bowed their heads and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground - their worship was an act of declaring His worth, His glory, His kingship

Notice that even their feasting was actually about the Lord. The whole point was to get their eyes off themselves.

Worship without Him at the center is actually self-idolatry (when we gather, not to please ourselves, but to rejoice in HIM)

Every song, sermon, prayer, every week

Worship much bigger than music - bigger even than the whole service - Neh dismisses the people to worship the LORD in their feast.

IV. Rejoice in the LORD through community

Note “all the people” - vv2, 3, 5, 6, 9, 11, 12, 13, 17 - all together

Could anyone have listened to Ezra and Nehemiah in v10 and said, “I will now go home to worship God by myself”?

Acts 2:42–47 ESV

42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43 And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. 44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

The private worship of the LORD must be accompanied by the public and gathered worship of His people. Can’t have a pot luck by yourself.

ILLUST:

Ppl who separate themselves from a local Body because they don’t think they “get anything” from participation are missing the point - big time

Some are “bored” by singing & sermons Some are “burned” by previous experiences Some are “bugged” by personal preferences

Somehow they got the idea that the purpose of a local Body was to serve them (be gentle here), rather than to rejoice in the LORD in community and to serve one another (Eph 4)

APPLY

Commitment to a local Church (note some can’t return yet)

looking for community? Life Groups, Sunday School (Koinonia even means community), SERVING in ministries. NOTE NURSERY, CHILDREN’S MIN

“REJOICING” is an act - a decision to respond to the Gospel with

V. Rejoice in the LORD when you have nothing else to rejoice in

EXPLAIN: “The joy of the LORD is your strength”

Joy of the Lord - like unity of the Spirit

Ephesians 4:3 ESV

3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Given by the Lord, focused on the Lord, dedicated to the Lord, Joy the Lord has in you, etc

When you weep for sin, remember that the LORD rejoices in YOU

Hebrews 12:2 ESV

2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

When you can’t remember all the other things that used to bring you joy, remind yourself of the promises of God in Christ, and remind yourself of all that He has done for us already

Psalm 28:7–8 ESV

7 The Lord is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him. 8 The Lord is the strength of his people; he is the saving refuge of his anointed.

The joy that comes from knowing that He is on your side thru Christ (Ps 16:11, Rom 5:1-11

APPLY:

Students: Thought this year would look different, not too thrilled about online school, less social stuff.

Those who have felt stuck @ home, lonely

Some of you have lost your job, or you’re working less hours & wondering if things are going to pick up.

Some feel like they’ve lost everything this year. Six months ago, you thought, “How could it get worse?” and then it did. You’re afraid to admit that you’re depressed. Worried that you’re making things worse. You find yourself saying to your loved ones, “I know I’m not making sense, but I can’t shake it.”

Did you find yourself weeping this week and not knowing why?

Did you find yourself angry? Did you punch a wall? Feel guilty? Did you feel like you got to the end of your rope and it turned out it was unraveled, and that was just like the final straw and you sat down and cried?

REJOICE: When you have nothing else to rejoice in, rejoice in the LORD

Romans 8:1 ESV

1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

I asked you at the beginning to think of something that brings you joy.

But I didn’t define the word JOY, did I? I said you’d tell ME it was deeper than happiness. And you’d be right.

<<NOTE BAPTISMS>>

The JOY of the LORD is your STRENGTH

JOY in this case is God-given assurance, a settled, celebratory conviction that the LORD has redeemed you.

And Jesus Himself gave us a meal to help us rejoice.

Today, we REJOICE in this feast. We don’t have fatty meat or sweet wine; we have bread and cup to remind us that Jesus is our PASSOVER Lamb, our bread of life, our new covenant.